Celiac And Depression

[SteffiW]

My doctor startet me on a gluten-free diet and my health problems improved. Now for the biopsy I have to eat gluten again.

Not only that my health problems are coming back, but also my depression is worse than before. Can it realy be, that

that is because I have to go back to gluten ?

 

Did anybody else has/had the same problems?

THanks for your help

SteffiW

[Celiac Mindwarp]

Hi Steffi

Welcome to the board

Yes, it is certainly possible for consuming gluten to be linked to depression. When I did a gluten challenge last summer I certainly found that and anxiety became much worse. It did start to clear again once I went gluten-free. One of the ways I know I have been glutened is an almost immediate sense of hopelessness, which lifts in 2 to 3 days.

How much longer do you need to eat gluten for?

Do come here for support, we will be happy to talk through you experiences and cheerlead you through.

It is worth knowing that not everyone shows damage on a biopsy, though it sounds like you are planning to return to gluten-free afterwards anyway

Good luck

[AlwaysLearning]

I read somewhere that vilii damage is one of the later stages of gluten allergies so I wouldn't expect an endoscopy to show much if you've been gluten free long enough for previous damage to have healed. Plus it shows up in patches so unless they get lucky and biopsy a patch that is damaged you could still get a false negative test result.

And I've also read of plenty of people who didn't have damage to their small intestines but did have damage to their large.

I do wish they would stop requiring retoxing and endoscopies to confirm that gluten can cause people serious harm. Asking us to poison ourselves just to get additional test results is cruel and certainly not good for our health.

I am hoping that as they learn more about gluten allergies, they'll figure out better testing methods that don't punish us so harshly ... and are more accurate.

[bellalunarena]

I was dx'ed by bloodwork at the hospital...I was told to expect that when I have my insurance back that a GI will want me to go back on gluten for the sake of a biopsy. I've read that this glutening is usually for a month, and after an accidental glutening laid me out for about 3 days (I'm only just now starting to feel better), I am terrified of getting accidentally glutened, let alone intentionally ingesting something that, for me (and the rest of us too, lol), is akin to poison. 

 

I don't want to intentionally poison myself. Not for a month. Not for a week, a day, an hour, a minute. Not for one second. I am petrified of the pain again. 

 

I struggled with PPD after the birth of my son nearly 2 years ago, and I still fight it. Gluten made the downturns so awful that in all honesty, I look back and am surprised that I'm even alive. I don't want to feel that again. 

 

I agree with the previous poster. Why is it necessary for me to ingest something that is going to tell my immune system to attack my body? Why do we have to go through a month of hell in order to have a 'concrete' diagnosis. Here, have my bloodwork results. Here's my CT scan with my seriously inflamed intestines caused by eating a freaking hoagie. Take some more blood and look for the genetic markers. My brother has Crohn's. My mother is a celiac and has Crohn's. I have a familial history of both. I eat gluten and I'm in hell. I don't eat gluten and I start feeling better. Undiagnosed celiac disease most likely led to my completely unnecessary gallbladder removal. That unnecessary removal made the celiac disease much more noticeable. I thought I had a gluten intolerance, a gluten intolerance that progressively became worse and worse until I wound up in the hospital with the exact same pain that led to the removal of my gallbladder. 

 

All the pieces are there. Why can't they just say "Okay, your celiac panel tested positive, and you have all this other stuff going on, let's do a genetic screen on your blood and see if you have the genetic markers for it."? Why do we have to poison ourselves and further damage our bodies for the sake of a biopsy? Yeah, they heal, I get it, but that isn't the point...if you had a fragile treasure that would repair itself when you broke it, would you break it every day for a month? I wouldn't. What if it repaired less effectively the more you broke it? What if it took longer and longer to repair each time you broke it? That's not a risk I feel we should have to take with our bodies. 

 

Sorry for the rant. Like I said, I'm still new to the celiac disease life, and I'm in a stage of angry bitterness right now.

 

*hug* Hang in there. I hope that you have a relatively painless glutening. :-(

[GottaSki]

My doctor startet me on a gluten-free diet and my health problems improved. Now for the biopsy I have to eat gluten again.

Not only that my health problems are coming back, but also my depression is worse than before. Can it realy be, that

that is because I have to go back to gluten ?

 

Did anybody else has/had the same problems?

THanks for your help

SteffiW

 

Welcome Steffi!

 

Yes, many folks have symptoms of all nature return during the gluten challenge.  If you are not able to tolerate gluten talk to your doctor about moving up the endoscopy date and or removing the challenge.  While the best results come while ingesting gluten -- not all intestinal damage repairs in days or even weeks. 

 

Did your doctor run the Celiac Antibody Panel before removing gluten?  If not, perhaps you need to find a doctor that is more knowledgeable with regard to Celiac Disease.  Not even all GIs are equal when it comes to Celiac -- look for a Gastroenterologist that specializes in Celiac Disease if possible.

 

I read somewhere that vilii damage is one of the later stages of gluten allergies so I wouldn't expect an endoscopy to show much if you've been gluten free long enough for previous damage to have healed. Plus it shows up in patches so unless they get lucky and biopsy a patch that is damaged you could still get a false negative test result.

And I've also read of plenty of people who didn't have damage to their small intestines but did have damage to their large.

I do wish they would stop requiring retoxing and endoscopies to confirm that gluten can cause people serious harm. Asking us to poison ourselves just to get additional test results is cruel and certainly not good for our health.

I am hoping that as they learn more about gluten allergies, they'll figure out better testing methods that don't punish us so harshly ... and are more accurate.

 

Just a quick aside -- Celiac Disease and NCGI are not "Gluten Allergies".  A person can have an allergic response to gluten - thus tests positive for Gluten Allergy.  Those with Celiac Disease have an immune system response to gluten being ingested - antibodies are created that attack the small intestine which causes damage that can only be repaired by removing all gluten.

 

Someone can have both Allergy and Autoimmune Response to gluten, but this is rare.

 

 

I was dx'ed by bloodwork at the hospital...I was told to expect that when I have my insurance back that a GI will want me to go back on gluten for the sake of a biopsy. I've read that this glutening is usually for a month, and after an accidental glutening laid me out for about 3 days (I'm only just now starting to feel better), I am terrified of getting accidentally glutened, let alone intentionally ingesting something that, for me (and the rest of us too, lol), is akin to poison. 

 

I don't want to intentionally poison myself. Not for a month. Not for a week, a day, an hour, a minute. Not for one second. I am petrified of the pain again. 

 

I struggled with PPD after the birth of my son nearly 2 years ago, and I still fight it. Gluten made the downturns so awful that in all honesty, I look back and am surprised that I'm even alive. I don't want to feel that again. 

 

I agree with the previous poster. Why is it necessary for me to ingest something that is going to tell my immune system to attack my body? Why do we have to go through a month of hell in order to have a 'concrete' diagnosis. Here, have my bloodwork results. Here's my CT scan with my seriously inflamed intestines caused by eating a freaking hoagie. Take some more blood and look for the genetic markers. My brother has Crohn's. My mother is a celiac and has Crohn's. I have a familial history of both. I eat gluten and I'm in hell. I don't eat gluten and I start feeling better. Undiagnosed celiac disease most likely led to my completely unnecessary gallbladder removal. That unnecessary removal made the celiac disease much more noticeable. I thought I had a gluten intolerance, a gluten intolerance that progressively became worse and worse until I wound up in the hospital with the exact same pain that led to the removal of my gallbladder. 

 

All the pieces are there. Why can't they just say "Okay, your celiac panel tested positive, and you have all this other stuff going on, let's do a genetic screen on your blood and see if you have the genetic markers for it."? Why do we have to poison ourselves and further damage our bodies for the sake of a biopsy? Yeah, they heal, I get it, but that isn't the point...if you had a fragile treasure that would repair itself when you broke it, would you break it every day for a month? I wouldn't. What if it repaired less effectively the more you broke it? What if it took longer and longer to repair each time you broke it? That's not a risk I feel we should have to take with our bodies. 

 

Sorry for the rant. Like I said, I'm still new to the celiac disease life, and I'm in a stage of angry bitterness right now.

 

*hug* Hang in there. I hope that you have a relatively painless glutening. :-(

 

I would talk to your doctor about going forward with the endoscopy just as soon as possible with or without gluten challenge - explain exactly what you have here to him or her so that you can decide together the next best step for you.